eMaint CMMS Converts Auditors into Maintenance Fans

Today, Silver Spring Foods is the largest horseradish producer in the world. With customization built into its affordable package, Silver Spring Foods chose eMaint to solve its CMMS needs. eMaint University helped the team rapidly learn and implement the software, and the benefits, including on-demand custom reports, and a 90% completion rate of the 200 weekly scheduled PM’s by their deadline, were quickly noticed.

BACKGROUND

Huntsinger Farms has been a family-owned operation since the patriarch, Ellis Huntsinger, first began planting and harvesting horseradish in 1929. Today, it is the world’s largest horseradish producer, and Ellis’s granddaughter and her two sons preside over the farm, as well as its subsidiary, Silver Spring Foods. Its plant produces and bottles sauces and dressings for the company’s own label as well as for other national brands.

THE CHALLENGE

Since the food industry is a target for safety concerns, it’s highly regulated. That means keeping records of preventive maintenance is required both by the federal government and large resale partners. Until implementing eMaint, Silver Spring’s 11 maintenance technicians struggled to proactively track and manage maintenance of their diverse equipment using manual spreadsheets. As the business grew, a CMMS was clearly needed. ERP software proved to be only a partial solution: While it could schedule PM projects, it wasn’t set up to monitor work order completion or inventory for the hundreds of parts needed to keep the coolers, mixers, pumps and other equipment operating.

IMPLEMENTATION

Prior to joining Silver Spring in 2007, Director of Engineering and Maintenance Matt Hafele had seen firsthand the benefits of a CMMS. Research quickly revealed that eMaint was the best choice for the company’s needs. Whereas most system providers charge additional fees for customization, Matt loved that he was able to adapt eMaint CMMS to his own specifications at no extra charge – including unique fields and descriptions. eMaint University helped get Matt and his team up and running rapidly, importing all asset and weekly, monthly and yearly PMs into the eMaint database.

All work orders are classified into nine categories, from scheduled repairs to emergencies. Custom reports document how many hours Matt’s team is working, by activity, with each maintenance tech given access to his or her own “dashboard” – including tabs such as daily work order assignments.

BENEFITS

Silver Spring now is certified as "Level A" under BRC Global Standards for food safety

100% of PMs (200 a week) are scheduled and ~90% are completed by deadline

“Before we implemented eMaint, we scrambled to find documentation during customer and third party audits. Now, our auditors and quality control team are very happy 'customers.' They can log in directly to enter work orders and check on status, and we're able to easily accommodate special requests, like flagging temporary repairs.”

Matt H., Director of Engineering & Maintenance, Silver Spring Foods

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